Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Snow Day Stories ~ guest post & giveaway from Megan Engelhardt

The following piece comes from Megan Engelhardt, one-half of the sister-duo behind the recently released Woves and Witches collection of fairy tale retellings.
Check out Megan's chat on the best "wintery" tales for this seemingly-never-ending winter we've been having, and then enter to win a copy of Wolves and Witches below!

Snow Day Stories

by Megan Engelhardt

What is with this snow?

The east coast has been getting slammed with winter storms lately, even though we're technically into spring now. I'm a little too far west to be considered the coast, but we've had our fair share of snowy days and cold nights. Everyone's getting sick of it: even my friends who love snow have been complaining about the March blizzards.

At some point it's masochistic to keep dreaming of spring, so we might as well embrace the cold and dig in to a few wintery fairy tales--preferably read under a thick blanket, with a cup of hot chocolate or tea close at hand.

You can't get much more wintery than the Anderson tale "The Snow Queen", in which the little girl Gerda travels to the North Pole to save her friend Kai from the titular ice lady. Gerda is clever, determined, and brave, no matter how desperate the situation or how cold the days.

Another chilly tale that features an excellent female heroine is the Norwegian folk tale "East of the Sun, West of the Moon." It has many familiar elements--a golden apple, drops of hot wax falling on a sleeping groom, a bear that is actually a prince--but they combine to make an engaging tale, which Jessica Day George retells neatly in Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow.

If you're looking for wintery books with that fairy tale feel, I'd highly recommend Neil Gaiman's Odd and the Frost Giants and Terry Pratchett's The Wintersmith. Gaiman is excellent in nearly everything he writes and he doesn't disappoint in Odd, a fun little adventure tale about a crippled boy on a quest to save Asgard from an unending winter. Pratchett is one of my favorite authors and The Wintersmith, the third in the Tiffany Aching series, showcases his wit alongside his keen understanding of the human condition. (It's one of a series, but works as a stand-alone. If you want to begin the series (and you should!) the first book is The Wee Free Men.)

And once you've journeyed through snowy days, cap it off with The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis. This wonderful classic reminds us that no matter how endless our winter seems, spring will come again.

****GIVEAWAY****The folks at World Weaver Press have offered up a copy of Wolves and Witches by Amanda C. Davis and Megan Engelhardt, in winner's choice of ebook format! This giveaway is INTERNATIONAL and ends April 10, 2013. Fill out the Rafflecopter below.
Good luck!As with all of the giveaways for Fairy Tale Fortnight, make sure you've already filled out our Giveaway Registration Form - this only needs to be done once!Please do not leave any sensitive info or email addresses in the comments!!

ABOUT THE BOOK:

Witches have stories too. So do mermaids, millers’ daughters, princes (charming or otherwise), even big bad wolves. They may be a bit darker–fewer enchanted ball gowns, more iron shoes. Happily-ever-after? Depends on who you ask. In Wolves and Witches, sisters Amanda C. Davis and Megan Engelhardt weave sixteen stories and poems out of familiar fairy tales, letting them show their teeth

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About Me

Fun-loving swf, likes long walks on the beach -- no, wait, that's not right. I don't really know what I want to do with my life at the moment, but I know it will involve books. I am full of contradictions, which I love, and I fully intend to be an eccentric old lady, with cats and sticky hard candy and pink hair. Also, I don't take myself too seriously, which translates as 'I am an utter dumbass,' and that's just the way I like it.
If you're interested in having me review your book, contact me at mbradenwf@gmail.com Please note: my tastes lean heavily toward urban fantasy, paranormal romance, magical realism, sci-fi, and fairy tale retellings. I have events dedicated to fairy tales, Halloween and Jane Austen, and will generally accept books in those categories. And I DO NOT accept e-books.